Alone in the World
by Hatsu Yukiya
Summary: A retelling of the story, but with a female Jack. The moon pulled her out of the darkness, gave her a name, then never spoke to her again. Now, three hundred years later, her purpose is made clear. Not my best summary ever, but it'll do. Sticks to the storyline. Cover art by Sarrina-Wolf-Chick.
1. Moonlight

**Just a quick AN up here: GENDERBENDING. I'm actually pretty certain I'm the first one here to do something like this. If I'm wrong, whatever. And I have a reason, because I know a lot of people aren't into this sort of thing. We'll get to that at the bottom.**

**xXx**

It was dark and cold, and it was too difficult to move much against the heavy, crushing pressure. Everything was stiff and sore and nothing seemed to want to cooperate. A moment passed before she realized that she couldn't breathe. The thought crossed her mind that maybe she should be panicking about this, but it didn't seem to be particularly bothersome so she let it be.

She twisted in the darkness, trying to get some sense of her bearings, to no avail. Everything was dark, and freezing, though that didn't seem to bother her either. How strange. The things that would certainly mean death weren't any trouble at all.

Unless she was already dead.

It was that thought which struck a jolt of panic in her mind. She couldn't be dead, could she? She was moving, sort of, and thinking, and that wasn't what dead people did. Right? She didn't really know much at this point. She had no idea who she was or how she had ended up...wherever she was. The thought was terrifying and she just wanted to get out the darkness and find out what was going.

Suddenly, there was a thin gleam of silvery light which cut through the inky black. The girl's eyes widened and, just as quickly, she didn't feel afraid anymore. The light grew in spectrum, though blurred, and she quickly realized she was viewing it through something like ice, and it wasn't growing; she was moving towards.

To her surprise, she was below ice, but rather than colliding with it and having her progress halted, she slid through it quite easily. She didn't stop moving after that either, floating upwards until her bare feet dangled freely in the air. Her head tilted upward and she found herself staring at the moon. It was so big, and the reflecting beams shimmered off the surrounding snow in the area (she had come out of a pond—that was definitely strange. How had she gotten there?) and stung her eyes, making her squint.

She hovered for a moment, gazing up at the moon in wonderment, before being lowered gently back down to the pong. Amazingly, the ice repaired itself below her feet and, though she didn't wear any shoes or coverings of any sort, the freezing cold surface didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, she kind of liked it. It was smooth and soft and the chill was comforting, in a strange way.

She took the opportunity to examine herself. She wore a long, plain brown skirt that fell just past her knees, as well as a cape made of some sort of animal hide, a white blouse was visible underneath. A look down at a clear patch of ice revealed the reflection of her face: thin and amazingly pale, with icy blue eyes framed by frosty white bangs. Her hair was long, damp from the pond and a bit past her elbows, quickly freezing into stiff, tangled locks.

That still didn't answer the question of who she was or what she was doing in a dark clearing in the dead of winter. The girl looked to the moon, somehow sensing that it had all the answers. She wasn't mistaken. After a moment, the moon did answer. It gave her a name.

Jacqueline Frost.

She couldn't help but grimace. _Jacqueline?_ For whatever reason, it didn't seem to suit her at all. Something more boyish would suit her tastes, though she wasn't sure why that particular idea crossed her mind. But, she had a name to be called no matter how dissatisfactory it was, so it was probably best to just go with it.

'Jacqueline' sighed and rubbed her arms self-consciously, glancing around her surroundings. It was a dark forest clearing, with the pond in the dead center. Everything was buried under at least two feet of snow, and it was bitterly cold. Still, it didn't bother her. That was perhaps the biggest mystery of all thus far.

She stepped back, intending to walk around the area, and nearly tripped over something she hadn't noticed before. It was a thick, curved stick, more like a staff than anything. And it seemed to be reacting the touch of her foot. Jacqueline bent down and scooped it up. The thing seemed to come alive in her hands, frost racing down the wood and sending a jolt of snow racing out the end.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, jumping back and nearly dropping it. The frost continued to spread across the pond, forming leafy, delicate patterns on the surface.

She looked down at the staff in amazement. Had she just done that? There was only one way to find out. Jacqueline hurried up to a nearby tree and tapped the staff against the bark, eyes widening as the frost spread upwards there as well.

That was all it took. Within moments Jacqueline was testing the power out on everything, running around the pond and sliding on the ice, aiming the staff at everything she could, just to see how far she could go. She let out a high peal of laughter as she skated around, not noticing the wind pick up. Before she could react, Jacqueline found herself suddenly leaving the ground behind as the gale carried her higher and higher. She spun in midair and looked back down to the ground, gasping in amazement when she saw exactly how much she and the staff had done.

Jacqueline didn't have too much time to ogle, however, as then the wind blew sharply eastward and she was tumbling through the air again, barely getting control of herself before she crashed headlong into a tree. Okay, she clearly needed to practice this flying thing... she inhaled deeply and pulled herself onto the branch she'd landed on, head spinning.

Wait...what was that? She heard noise. Jacqueline listened intently, and turned to see a glow of lights coming from a village not too far away. She took a steadying breath and raised the staff again, willing the winds to come take her away. It went a little better this time, though she was still extremely wobbly in the air and crash-landed into a building. Face burning, she scrambled to her feet and looked around guiltily. Thankfully, nobody else seemed to have noticed her clumsiness, which was good. She didn't want to deal with that embarrassment right at this particular moment.

Jacqueline straightened her cape and smoothed her hair—to no avail, it was sticking around everywhere—before taking a few steps into the boundaries of the town. The place really was small, and for some reason everyone was out and about despite it apparently being late at night. She frowned, wondering what was up.

"Excuse me," she greeted a woman, who walked by as if she didn't hear anything. Jacqueline's eyebrows furrowed further.

"Uh, hello?"

The man she spoke to this time walked by as well, completely ignoring the girl. Jacqueline snorted, trying to quell her uneasiness, before turning to a small gaggle of children. Kids probably weren't like adults; not as rude.

"Hey," she waved to a small boy, "Can you tell me where—"

She cut off suddenly as the boy ran right through her.

Jacqueline exclaimed loudly and stumbled back, shock and panic coursing through her veins. _What was that?!_ He'd gone straight through her! the sensation had been completely unpleasant, like she was weightless yet grounded to the earth, unable to move. She jumped out of the way of another oncoming person, not wanting to repeat the experience.

What was going on? Nobody could see or hear her! they even walked right through her! Dread settled in her stomach.

_I am dead,_ she realized. _I'm dead and these people can't see me because I'm some kind of ghost. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead..._

Unable to help it, she looked back to the moon. It remained completely silent.

_I'm dead,_ she thought one last time. Sparing one more terrified glance around the village, she tightened her grip on her staff and fled into the dark forest.

Her name was Jacqueline Frost. She knew that much, because the moon told her so. But that was the only thing the moon ever told her. The rest she had to figure out on her own.

She was alone.

**A/N:**

**Okay so I was watching the Fionna and Cake episode of Adventure Time (Marshall Lee HNNNG fangirling) earlier and also I haven't slept a whole lot lately and also also I'm finishing off my Halloween candy. So when you put all that together you get a very tired, sugar-high, INSANE Hatsu who wants to give everything a vag**_**—*COUGH***_** wants to make everything female.**

**Writing quality right now sucks because I need sleep like REALLY badly.**

**Also, this is supposed to be a oneshot. I may continue, though, if people so desire. I cave easily to peer-pressure, OTL. I'm just testing the waters. If I do continue, Jacqueline will not be constantly referred to as Jacqueline. I'm too lazy to type that out all the time so I'd work around it. **

**Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think :)**


	2. Pitch on the Globe

**Hi again! I have decided to continue to the best of my ability. So, here is a second chapter!**

**Now, I don't usually reply to reviews, but I will for this story because I love you people.**

**Twisted Skys****: I'm dead. First, OMG YOU'RE REVIEWING MY STORY YAYYY IT'S GREAT BECAUSE YOU'RE REALLY COOL EVEN THOUGH YOU ALSO REVIEW SNOWFLAKES BUT WHATEVER THIS IS A BIG DEAL TO ME BECAUSE I RESPECT YOU A WHOLE FREAKIN' LOT. Second, you've killed me with that review. I'm dead. Now, to get it out of the way, LADY PARTS, LADY PAAARTS~**

**Kichi Hisaki****: OH GOD I KNOW. I'm drowning in OC fics. And yeah, like I said, I was really tired last night (still am, for that matter) and my mind doesn't edit things as well as it should. Thanks for pointing that stuff out, I'll be sure to watch myself in the future :D I'm properly caffeinated tonight, though! It's almost ten p.m...**

**oOShinahiOo****: Duuuude. That's creepy. Great minds think alike, I suppose. I used the name Jacqueline because it's like the feminine form of Jacques/Jack and...yeah.**

**Illuminati-4****: It's just Jack that will be genderbent. I was inspired by the How to Train Your Dragon fic, As the Skies Open, and hope to do something like that (even though Rays of Color is a way, waaaay better author than I am). I don't have the energy or creative mindset to give everyone else a gender swap. Also, you called it! Her nickname is going to be Jackie, and people are going to think she's a boy because of reasons ;) **

**Talia Iyami****: Hohoho, Bunnymund is going to have something to say about Jack's being a girl, don't you worry. Though it may not be what you expect... anyway, the scenes with Pitch are going to be different considering the situation, but there won't be any romance at all here.**

**tazdeval****: Thanks! Tooth would be interesting as a guy, but that's a story for another author, I'm afraid :l**

**hisokauzukami****: I haven't been able to see the art on dA, but I really want to! I use the internet on my phone (which is not a Droid or a Smart-Phone or iPhone—it's a Pantech Link. It's not high tech at all) and dA doesn't really like to...cooperate. I plan on looking when I get to school tomorrow, though!**

**wolfeclipse25****: I genderbend everything, even if I don't write/draw it. *eyes widen* **_**Everything... **_

**dakfire****: About Jackie, hehe, my mind assigned her the voice of Fionna the Human and I about died, it was so cute.**

**Lady Cooper****: I tried drawing it XD the picture is up on my Hatsu Yukiya Facebook page and it'll also be up to on deviantART soon. The links to both sites are on my profile. Hopefully I find a piece of art that looks close enough to the image I have. Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH. I was blown away at the amount of love Safe and Sound has been getting, I wasn't expecting a ONESHOT to get anywhere close! I've spent far too much time in the neglectful Hetalia fandom...**

**Ffsethe****: Yeah, I couldn't really change the scene up a whole bunch at the beginning. Besides, it was perfect in my mind, so there wasn't really a whole lot that could be done, y'know? This story will be sticking really close to the original storyline though, just with added scenes and altered dialogue. I hope I do it justice.**

**Alright, that's it! Also thanks for the reviews from BlizzardBorn, AvisQuest9513, The White Grim, blackdisk, lokoforsonic9559, SokkasFirstFangirl, Otaku Addicted Dweeb, Flyn, LadyLombax, Reba G, and KingdomArtemisHetalia. You guys all keep me breathing! Literally. **

**xXx**

He wasn't called the Nightmare King for nothing. He was fear incarnate, the master of shadows and darkness, and as such, was very good at slinking around. Sneaking into the North Pole was child's play for Pitch. He wasn't there to do anything particularly malicious—yet—he just wanted to send a message, one that Nicholas St. North would receive loud and clear. Pitch had chosen this Guardian in particular: he was the closest one in direct contact to the Moon. His base, Santoff Clausen, more or less served as Guardian Headquarters. Getting into this place would definitely get Pitch noticed.

And that was his goal. To get noticed.

He stood by the front gates of Santoff Clausen, standing still and staring up at the grand spires, a smirk twisting his features. Though the temperature of the North Pole was far, far in the negatives, Pitch wasn't bothered in the slightest. After all, nothing went together than darkness, fear, and cold.

However, he couldn't stand here all day, nor could he just waltz into the workshop like he owned the place—_yet,_ once again. The yetis were troublesome when it came to security and he couldn't have North knowing what he was up to until the most opportune moment. With that thought in mind, he spun on his heel and dissipated into shadow, creeping along the snow and under the crack in the door. It was chaotic inside, just as he had expected, but avoiding the elves and yetis was exceedingly simple. He stuck to the walls, lurking in the dark corners and moving when the large masses of fur did as well. Eventually, Pitch managed to make it to his predetermined location.

The Globe room.

**xXx**

North's personal workshop was truly a sight to behold. Large blocks of ice cluttered every surface, seemingly unaffected by the blazing fire in the hearth. Everything in the room was large in size, much like the man who inhabited it, and decorated in rich, bright colors. It was where North, Guardian of Wonder, spent most of his time designing new toys and other delights for the children of the world. That was his job, after all, and he took it very seriously.

At the moment he was busy trying to design a flying train engine. That would be something, wouldn't it? Normally kids expected planes or cars to fly; a train would be a nice surprise for the little boys who were into that sort of thing! And certain little girls, now that he thought about it. the process was going quite well. North had already sliced open the giant hunk of carving ice he used for his prototypes and was currently chipping away at the smaller block, painstakingly shaping every last little detail. He hummed to a jaunty Christmas tune on the radio as he worked.

The large man finally finished, blowing off the flakes of ice that coated the smooth surface of the train engine before releasing it into the air. It flew perfectly, just as expected, and was making its way towards the door to be introduced to the workshop when the door itself flew open, colliding with the engine and sending it crashing to the floor.

North swore and jumped to his feet, snapping at the yeti who had so rudely intruded, "What do you want?! I told you to knock!" His booming Russian accent made the words sound twice as intimidating as they would another man, but the workers of Santoff Clausen were far too used to it at this point. The only ones who really feared North were the elves.

The yeti—his name was Larry—spewed out a garbled sentence in the language of his species, indicating frantically out the door.

"The globe?" North frowned. "What is wrong with the globe?"

Larry didn't reply, just gestured in an agitated manner outside. Feeling a sense of forboding, North grabbed the dual sabers he kept propped near the door and followed the yeti to the Globe room. The scene looked normal enough; the lights on the globe were all shining brightly, each showcasing a child that still believed in the Guardians.

North was smiling fondly at the thought of all the children when the lights suddenly began to flicker and go out. He exclaimed in shock and lurched forward, looking for the cause of the disruption when the cause made itself visible all on its own. Dark shadows that shimmered as though made of sand began pouring down and encircling the massive sphere, smothering the world in black. All North could do was stand there in blatant shock and fear as he watched it happen.

The sand suddenly took on a new shape, a silhouette of a person. An outline North recognized immediately. The tall, willowy profile, the hooked nose, high forehead. Any and all immortals knew that figure when they saw it.

"No..." he gasped, blue eyes widening. "This cannot be possible..."

The figure let out a high, cold laugh and took off at a high speed, whizzing right past North and out the opening in the ceiling of the room, where the light of the moon was shining through. The sand on the globe lost its power and collapsed, raining down onto the tables and floor.

North stood silently for a moment, shell-shocked, as he tried to process exactly what had happened. At the very least, he knew what he needed to do. He called for an elf—he couldn't remember the specific name—and instructed it to make room for a few visitors. The Pole was going to have some company very soon.

He grabbed the handle on the table and twisted it smartly before pushing it downward. The globe reacted immediately, lighting up in a wide spectrum of colors as the aurora signal was sent out worldwide.

Now all North had to do was sit back and await the arrival of his fellow Guardians.

**A/N:**

**I was going to make this chapter much longer, but then, it was midnight and I've only been sleeping in six-hour blocks for the past few days and I'm sixteen and I'm tired because SCHOOL and stupid junior year. I can't function when I'm constantly sleepy. Sorry D: The upcoming chapters will be much longer when I catch up on/reboot my sleeping patterns, I swear. And they'll get more interesting, too. There's not a whole lot I can tweak right now, as we're only at the beginning.**

**Oh! One more thing. Would anyone be willing/interested in doing a cover image for me?**

**Thanks for reading anyway, please review.**


	3. Guardians Assemble

The Tooth Fairy was a very busy lady. It was no simple task, collecting thousands of teeth every night from all corners of the globe, and she had to be commended for her ability to get the job done as efficiently as she did. Tooth very rarely slept or ate anything, as it was always nighttime somewhere, and thus she and her mini-fairies worked almost constantly. The fairy honestly felt a little irked whenever something knocked her out of her system. She ran on a tight schedule; something had better be pretty freaking important if she had to leave her babies to work all on their own. But when the aurora borealis appeared over her palace, signaling for the Guardians, she knew she had to leave. That was just how things worked, and Tooth knew that North wouldn't call them all to Santoff Clausen for nothing.

She turned to her mass of fairies and called out the names of her closest helpers who circled around her head, chirping with excitement. If she had to go to the North Pole, she wanted to get some work done while she was there.

"Alright, alright, calm down," Tooth smiled. "We need to head out if—Ohhh!" She cut off mid-sentence as she caught a glimpse of a tooth another fairy had just flown in. "It's a lower second bicuspid! Kids don't usually have this as their first tooth, isn't that adorable?! He brushed so well!"

One fairy twittered and pointed back to the auroras, snapping Tooth's mind back into action.

"Right! Okay ladies, to the Pole we go! The rest of you, keep up the good work!"

She saluted her girls and spun off into the distance, followed closely by her lieutenants.

**XXx**

As she neared North's workshop, Tooth caught sight of a few golden tendrils of light reaching through the cloud cover. Within moments, the Sandman's Wright-Bellanca style airplane came whizzing into view, dream sand spewing out the engines. She waved cheerily over to him, and he smiled and returned the gesture.

"Long time, no see!" Tooth hollered, voice muffled by the roaring wind. Flying probably wasn't the best time for polite conversation. Sandman nodded in response and the two flew in close formation for the duration of the flight. Soon enough, the two were touching down in North's personal office.

While Sandy turned to North to ask exactly what was up, Tooth instead went right to work with her fairies, directing them off to various corners of the world. A few minutes later, Bunnymund hustled into the room, breathless and shivering.

"There better be a good reason for this, North," he said crossly in way of greeting. "I have three days until Easter and millions of eggs to paint."

"There is always a good reason," North replied affably, not looking perturbed by the Pooka's attitude in the slightest.

"So what is it?"

The large man paused for dramatic effect. "Pitch was here. Here at Santoff Clausen."

Tooth, in the process of sending one of her fairies to Quebec, stopped mid-sentence. "Pitch? The Boogeyman Pitch?"

North nodded solemnly. "He came in a mass of black sand and encircled the globe—"

"Sand?" Bunnymund raised his eyebrows and glanced at Sandy, who shrugged and downed his eggnog. "Pitch isn't made of sand, mate. Are you sure that's what you saw?"

"He was here! I feel it!" North insisted. "In my belly!"

"Uh-huh," Bunnymund deadpanned. The two fell into their normal banter while Sandy floated around chugging eggnog in the background and Tooth chattered to her fairies. "Here I am, getting ready for my holiday, when you call me up here in the freezing cold because of a bout of indigestion or some other such nonsense. If I did this to you before Christmas—"

"Easter is not Christmas," North cut in smoothly. "Christmas is far more important. No silly eggs to paint."

"Wha—hey! These are just as important as your gifts, you know!"

"You say one thing but I hear another..."

"...got hit with a hockey puck, that knocked out a few lateral incisors, big job for the girl who had to pick them up—"

"Tooth," North and Bunnymund sighed together, rolling their eyes at the fairy that had drifted into their line of sight, "we are trying to argue."

"Pardon me," she shrugged, feigning offense. "Some of us have to work constantly, not just a single night, right Sandy?"

The Sandman didn't seem to be paying attention, but the three others paid no mind and simply went back to their prior bickering. Meanwhile Sandy, after shoving a hungry elf away with his foot, noticed a thin stream of light filtering in through the large gap in the ceiling. He looked up; the moon was moving into view, shedding its beams and filling the room with a silvery hue.

_Uh..._ Sandy waved to get the others' attention, to no avail. Bunnymund and North were too busy aggravating each other, and Tooth was still focusing single-mindedly on a set of triplets in Miami who had all lost a tooth that day.

_Anyone want to look over here?_ He tried harder, rising up a few feet over their heads and flailing his arms. His efforts proved fruitless. Resisting the temptation to rub his temples, Sandy exasperatedly snatched up a passing elf and shook it, ringing the bell atop its hat...thing. Seriously, what were those? Oh well, he didn't have time to ponder the matter. The bell did its job, however, and the other Guardians quieted down long enough for the small man to point insistently towards the moon.

"Ah! It's Manny!" North called out warmly, spreading his arms in welcome. "It has been a long time! What is happening?"

The light in the room intensified cast a shadow over the mosaic floor. The shadow solidified into a silhouette, the same one North had seen earlier that day. Pitch Black.

Bunnymund turned to North in amazement and said, "You were right."

North just smirked and patted his belly.

"So what do we have to do?" Tooth asked, fidgeting. "This is bad, right?"

The Man in the Moon seemed all too willing to answer. The mosaic parted to reveal a hole in the floor, out of which rose a pedestal with a large, shimmering crystal.

"...Alright," Tooth breathed. "Guys, you know what this means?"

"A new Guardian?!" Bunnymund answered disbelievingly. "Since when do we need a new one? It's not like we need help!"

"Manny says we do," North replied. Next to him, Sandman nodded in agreement. "If he says he's choosing a new one, there isn't anything we can do about it."

"I wonder who it is," Tooth frowned, deep in thought as the crystal began to glow, forming an image in the light.

"As long as it's not the groundhog or the turkey, I'm happy," Bunnymund muttered. "Anybody but them."

The image began to take form, and after a few moments of tense silence the Guardians could clearly see who the new Guardian was to be. Thin, a little on the short side, with long hair partially covered by a hood, and a staff clenched in one hand. The mouth on the outline was quirked up in a calculating smirk.

"...Oh god, no," Bunnymund backtracked. "I take it back. Anything but _her."_

"Jack Frost," North breathed.

"_Jackie_," Tooth corrected, not seeing a problem with the selection. "She's not a boy, remember? And as long as she helps out with the kids, there's no problem, right?"

"Jackie?!" Bunnymund laughed dryly. "She's never cared about children! If anything, all she does is endanger them with ice and snow hills. That girl never does anything besides make cars skid on black ice and bother me with snowy Easters. What makes you think she'd want to join, anyway? She hates responsibility"

"If there's any reason she'd not want to join, it's because you spread the rumor about her being a boy," Tooth pointed out mildly. Bunnymund threw his arms in the air.

"You make one little slip-up and the whole world catches on! That was not my fault. Besides, it wasn't like she put any effort into dispelling the rumor. Mark my words; she's not going to be any help at all."

**A/N:**

**Hello again! I'm on an updating roll, aren't I? My Hetalia readers can just deal with the lack of updates for right now. I don't think they really love me that much anyway. In any case, I think I'll try to post daily or at least every other day. Keeping up a schedule is good for me. Teaches me life lessons. **

**Review responses are going down here now.**

**Witch08: My image of Jackie has her with long hair, if only because she was born in the late 1600's and there were expectations for the appearance of women. I imagine she only kept it long because she was too lazy or saw no point in cutting it XD As for the Jack/Bunny, well... there isn't going to be romance in this fic. There wasn't any in the movie and I honestly don't support that pairing. I'm a FairyFrost and someone on tumblr has also turned me onto the idea of Jack/Marceline (from Adventure Time). Yeah, wrap your heads around that one, haha. **

**kairitonks: Thanks! :D 64? Uh... OH. That's what it is. Okay, I get it. Like Rule 34 only with genderbends instead of porn.**

**AvisQuest9513: Fionna's from Adventure Time, if you didn't know. And it didn't make much sense to apply it to Jackie, since Fionna's voice is very childish and cute :P I REMEMBER THOSE SHOES. I laughed so hard, they were ridiculous. And Jack was like, "NOPE, I'M DONE," and stops the ceremony immediately. I picture her as a tomboy as well, it's a fun image. It'll play a part in this story, for realsies. Your idea is great, too!**

**Twisted Skys: Hell yeah I respect you. You're probably my favorite author in this fandom right now.**

**Talia Iyami: I haven't seen any Spiderman media, but I'm aware of whom Peter Parker is and it sounds really cool that you're doing that :) I'm a big fan of any and all genderbends.**

**tazdeval: Pitch is very interesting, isn't he? He's not as scary a villain as, say, Turbo, but he's definitely no slouch. Not a lot of focus is put on him in the fandom, I think.**

**OverdosedOnPotterPride: Ah...yeah, probably... :/ The genderbenders have come out to play. It was going to happen one way or another. Sorry it had to be me. I'm glad you like it so far, though; a lot of genderbend stories aren't that well done but I'm doing my best (referring back to As the Skies Open). **

**BlizzardBorn: You are a genius, can I use that? I'm going to use that.**

**azwolfe: Everyone wants her to cut her hair D: Why?! Long hair is nice... and I'm not just saying this because I'm obsessively trying to grow out my own.**

**Guest: ...Neither of those suggestions have anything to do with this story... and I've noticed you've sent the same review to my other story Snowflakes and also to Twisted Skys. Uh... I'll see what I can do, but they won't be happening in here. And, Jack having amnesia is kind of a big part of the original movie all on its own, isn't it?**

**Dragowolf: Ahh, thank you. It's the weekend now so I'm feeling much better. Now to get my eating habits under control... I'm really bad at taking care of myself. I'm only a high schooler, what do people want from me?**

**Thanks to Lady Cooper, Rubberducksrock, LadyLombax, hisokauzumaki, REBD, Roslyn Rose, MintLeafeon, Reba G, Sarrina-Wolf-Chick, EpicHeroLaugh, and ChibiLover123!**

**Next chapter, we're getting to the fun stuff: Modern Jackie! I was going to have her in this one for a little bit, but I've had to rush the ending because I have to be at my town's Festival of Trees in half an hour to watch my sister dance. Yep.**

**Thanks for reading, please review!**


	4. Jackie

"We can't do that."

"How come?"

"Bunny! We can't essentially kidnap a girl off the streets."

North's eyebrows furrowed together. "You don't like my idea?"

Tooth shook her head. "Sorry, but no. I mean, how would Jackie even respond to that?"

"Well how else are we going to get her here?" Bunnymund scoffed. "Give her toys and candy in return for helping us out? Look, she's an immature little twit, but not a small child."

Tooth crossed her arms in an uncharacteristic display of irritation. "I think we should just talk to her. She'd listen if we spoke rationally, wouldn't she?"

"I tried to speak rationally to her in 1795 and North Carolina got three feet of snow on Easter that year."

"You didn't try hard enough."

"And wasn't that the year you slipped about her being a boy?" North asked, "And now the whole world thinks she is one. She's not known as _Jack_ Frost for nothing."

"_That was a bloody accident!"_

"Yeah, see?" Tooth sighed, ignoring the Pooka's brief outburst. "It was really no wonder she was so angry. Us being forceful about the whole Guardian thing would just make it worse, since things are pretty tense already."

"Well, I'm all for the sack and the 'kidnapping', as you put it," Bunnymund replied hotly. "North's got his head the right place, as much as it pains me to say it. We're not going to convince her any other way."

"So you'll be the one to do the actual 'kidnapping' then, I assume?" Tooth casually examined her fingernails. "You're the one all for the idea, and you're the one who knows the most about Jackie and where she might be. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

"I agree," North chipped in.

Bunnymund spluttered incoherently. "M-Me? What makes you think...Sandy, help me out!" He turned to the tiny man desperately. "Sandy?"

The Sandman was floating a few feet above the ground, fast asleep and unaware of the argument that had just transpired.

"...Forget it," the Pooka muttered. "Fine then. Does she have a home base or something? I think I remember..."

**xXx**

Moscow was nice. Russia was nice in general, always cold and wintery, and even more so the nearer Jackie travelled to Siberia. Hm, Siberia sounded great. Deathly cold and real snowy. She'd have to check it out sometime the next time she felt like a good trip to northern Europe. Granted, Siberia was technically in Asia, but Jackie spent a lot of time in Finland and Sweden when the United States was going through summer so it wouldn't be hard to jump over to Russia for a little bit.

But at the moment she was in Moscow. It wasn't exactly the time of year for sub-degree weather, being three days from Easter and all, but she figured she could spread a little light snow as long as she was in the area. Jackie was heading home from Norway at the moment, back to Burgess, Pennsylvania, but she liked Europe. Every time she came over she lingered as long as possible.

She was perched atop some statue of a guy named Peter Romanov something-or-other. Jackie didn't care, honestly; she was just using his head as a seat while she caught a breather after flying nonstop from Jyvaskyla. Besides, it was the perfect place to begin her fun. Jackie grinned and swept a loose lock of white hair behind her ear. Her hair was kind of annoying, reaching past her elbows, but she never bothered to cut it. If it got too bad she could shove it in her hood or something. Besides, nothing about her appearance had changed in three hundred years. If something was going to change, like her hair length, it would do so on its own.

She mentally shook herself. Why was she even thinking about that? "Get it together, you moron," Jackie muttered to herself, as she was prone to doing. Hey, who else was she going to talk to? "Nope, knock it off. You've got stuff to do."

Her smile worked its way back to her face once more and she stood on the Peter guy's head, brushed off her skirt, and tapped her staff against the base of the statue. Frost blossomed in its fern-like pattern and went racing off down the sidewalk. Jackie laughed lightly and chased after it, riding the wind and encouraging it forward.

The frost spread like wildfire, tripping late-night office workers and freezing the water fountain some kids were standing at. Jackie couldn't help but snicker as she noticed the boy using the fountain got his tongue stuck to the frozen stream. His friends laughed too, and after a moment he was free and laughing with them.

Jackie continued on, sweeping up a light wind to pull the clouds together and begin a light snowfall. The flakes drifted down, swirling in the wind, and the children in the street squealed with delight and ran around trying to catch some in their mouths. When the chill raced past another child's window, it accidentally froze the poor boy's fishbowl solid. Jackie felt a bit bad about that, and wished there was a way to make it up to him, but all she could do was make things colder. Whatever. Everyone else seemed to be having a good time, right?

The winter spirit grinned. That had been the intention here all along. So what if the wind blew some teenager's homework off his desk and out his window? It probably wasn't important anyway. In Jackie's opinion, older people needed to learn how to cut back. If she could whack them upside the head with her staff and tell them to have a little fun, she would. Probably in a less-violent way, now that she thought about it, but the ends justified the means most of the time, right?

She flew up a little higher and caught hold of a long, needle-like spire poking off one of the historical buildings. Swinging around, she called out, "Hey wind! Let's go home!"

**A/N:**

**I'm stalling :/ I don't feel like writing the snowball fight and sledding scene right now. I'm not entirely sure how to, either. Next chapter will be great, though.**

**Nobody is bothered when I reply to reviews here, are you? D: See, I really do want to talk to all y'alls, but I don't have the time/energy/patience to go through and respond to every single one privately. So. Yeah.**

**Aki-chan26-AgnosticAngel: Nope. No haircuts. I've got a **_**thing**_** for long, white hair.**

**witchsoul531: Yep, that's a fandom. Where all the fans of something congregate.**

**hisokauzumaki: I think all the immortals know the truth, hehe. It's the Muggles who still think she's a boy. Good job, Bunnymund.**

**BlizzardBorn: Well, considering the context of the story now, it'll be changed up a bit... Basically same scene, but with lots of sarcasm as Jackie and Bunny try to one-up each other in the aggravation department.**

**Twisted Skys: AVENGERS ASSEMBLE.**

**kairitonks: Pleased to be of service! It's actually the other way around. The Blizzard of '68 was Jackie getting revenge for the gender screw-up.**

**DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympian s: DAT USERNAME OF YOURS, WHOA. Jenny? Really? That...makes no sense...to me. For more than one reason.**

**morethanjustausername: Well, I hope Jackie is a suitable replacement. Jacqueline is too long a name, in my opinion :P but she still needs something feminine.**

**AvisQuest9513: Oh you do, I wasn't certain. I dunno, maybe a tomboyish Marceline voice? I'm low on creativity right now, it's midnight. Oh, those wacky elves. "We wear the shoes! We're elves! Wear the shoes!" And hey, that was pretty damn poetic from my point of view. I see her as having the same skirt. Jack didn't change his pants for 300 years so it makes sense that Jackie wouldn't change her skirt...right? The skirt is going to be important, by the way.**

**ChibiLover123: New chapters daily, to the best of my ability! Haha, that part was supposed to be funny. Go ahead and use it, I don't mind.**

**oOShinahiOo: Total tomboy. This is relevant. Or, it will be later on.**

**Surrender Moors: Yeah! As the Skies Open by Rays of Color! I looove that story (am totally sad that it's very nearly over), and it's what made me want to write this one. Rays of Color is amazing and I want to be like her.**

**Thanks to Third Year Hogwarts Dropout, fourty-eight, The White Grim, azwolfe, Cold Colors, Gage39, Kichi Hisaki, MintLeafeon, Epic Hero Laugh, Fire Hippy, Cosmos Angel and Yami Chaos!**

**Right, I have to go work on a Hetalia story now because I'm starting to feel bad for those poor n00bs. Later!**


	5. Snowballs and Sledding

It was daylight when Jackie arrived back home to Burgess, Pennsylvania. She'd flown straight through the night, and with the time differences between here and Moscow, it was around eight in the morning when she got in. The kids of the town would be heading to school right about now. Jackie frowned. Spring was underway, even if the groundhog said she still had a few more weeks to run around America freely. In a few days would be Easter, and after that the snow days would have to stop. Jackie didn't like being away from Burgess too long. It was the place she considered her home, for reasons she couldn't explain, and she literally counted down the days until spring, summer and autumn were over with she she could return.

She still had a few more weeks, and she intended to milk them for all they were worth.

Jackie spun in midair, waving her staff expertly to call up a few heavy grey clouds with the winds. A light snow began drift down to the streets below, becoming heavier every passing moment. The girl let out a carefree laugh and angled her body to allow for a comfortable plummet towards the ground. At the last second, she pulled out of the dive and went whizzing towards the frozen pond. It was a popular place for the children walking to school to cut through, as it provided a convenient shortcut from the woodsy neighborhoods to the main streets of Burgess.

There were a few kids in the area when Jackie flew over, bringing with her a strong gust of wind. One boy didn't seem to be paying attention to anything around him, instead burying his nose in a book. When the gale blew through the forest clearing, he stumbled in surprise and lost his grip on the book, sending it flying.

"Whoops," Jackie muttered, touching down on the ground and motioning for the wind to stop blowing. It obliged, and she watched as the boy sighed, picked his book up, and dusted off the dog-eared pages. "That looks pretty interesting," Jackie commented, eying the cover. "Bigfoot and aliens, huh? You into that stuff?"

The boy didn't answer, nor did he give any indication that he had even heard her. Jackie just shrugged, used to this, and turned to look as one of the boy's friends called across the pond.

"Hey, Jamie!"

The boy, Jamie, turned around to face the pair of twins who were dashing towards him with wide grins on their faces.

"School's cancelled today, they just announced it on the radio!" one said, face flushed red with excitement.

Jamie's brown eyes lit up. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah! What do you wanna do?"

His other twin thought about it. "What about sledding? The hill should still be covered, right?"

Jackie smiled and nonchalantly followed the children as they headed back to their cluster of houses, staff slung over her shoulders. "I can make that happen."

"Yeah, probably," Jamie shrugged. "Hey, Monty, Claude, you're coming to the egg hunt, right?

"You bet!" the boy Jackie assumed to be Claude fist-pumped the air. "We better be able to find the eggs in all this snow!"

"It'll be fun no matter what, though," Jamie said, "the Easter Bunny will be sure to hide the eggs where we can find them."

This caught Jackie's attention and she listened more intently. She'd been spacing out for the last few minutes of the conversation, balancing casually on the top of a fence as she observed the small group of kids.

"You're still going on about that stuff?" Monty grinned, elbowing Jamie teasingly. "That's what you said about Bigfoot and the aliens who drew the Nazca lines or something. The Easter Bunny, really?"

Jamie's eyes widened. "What are you saying?"

"He's just messing with you, dude," Claude laughed. "Just giving you a hard time. Chill out, we know the Easter Bunny's real."

"Oh yeah," Jackie chipped in offhandedly, "he's very real. Real self-centered, a real killjoy, and reaaally irritating."

The group appeared to have arrived at Jamie's house, as the boy said, "Let me just put my book away and grab my sled, I'll be right out."

True to his word, Jamie emerged a moment later, tailed by a large greyhound and a much smaller girl with tangled, uneven blonde hair.

"Okay, let's go," Jamie said. The dog barked and leapt off the porch stairs, taking the little girl with it. The girl sniffled and tears rose to her eyes. "...Mom," the older boy called, "Abby knocked Sophie over again!"

"You alright, Soph?" a feminine voice asked from inside. Sophie nodded and wiped away a few tears, lips bravely quirking up into a small smile.

"Easter Bunny comes tomorrow!"

Jamie ruffled her hair. "That's right! You excited?"

She nodded again, more energetically this time. Jackie smiled. This kid was clearly a good big brother to Sophie.

Their mother appeared at the door. "Come on inside, Soph. Jamie, put on your hat." She tossed a blue hat in her son's direction. Jamie groaned. "Don't give me that. You don't want Jack Frost giving you a cold, do you?"

The boy frowned. "Who's Jack Frost?"

His mother waved a flippant hand. "He's nobody, it's just an expression. Go have fun."

"Wha—hey!" Jackie exclaimed to nobody in particular as Jamie shrugged and headed off with his friends. She jumped off the fence, scowling. "This always happens... 'Who's Jack Frost,' he says..."

She scooped up a handful of snow and formed a snowball. "I'll show you who." With that, she blew an icy breath onto the snowball, freezing it solid. Drawing her arm back, Jackie sent the ball flying, aiming perfectly so that it hit Jamie square in the back.

He exclaimed in surprise and stumbled forward a few steps, rubbing his shoulder. He spun around, "What was that for?! Who threw that?"

"Sure wasn't the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny," Jackie replied with some amusement. Naturally, Jamie didn't hear her, and instead his brown eyes zoned in on a pair of other children building a snow fort. Without missing a beat, he had several snowballs formed within a few mere moments and lobbed one into the face of a girl with short red hair. She fell backwards with a cry of shock.

"Jamie Bennett, that was dirty!" she called out indignantly.

"You started it, Paige!"

"Did not!"

Jackie lazily tossed another snowball in their general direction, smacking Paige's blonde companion in the back of the head and sending him sprawling face-first in the snow. That was all it took for the fight to begin. The kids formed up in teams; Jamie, Claude, and Monty on one side, Paige and her friend (who Jackie later identified as being named Ralphie) on the other. The battle was intense, raging for several minutes as Jackie ran around egging the kids on, zapping up ammo with her staff.

It was all fun and games until someone hit Cupcake.

It was amazing how quickly the flurry of activity came to a dead halt.

Monty gasped. "...You hit Cupcake."

"You hit Cupcake," his twin echoed.

Paige paled. "I hit Cupcake!"

Eyebrows raised, Jackie turned to see who they were referring to, and nearly had the same reaction as them, for Cupcake was the biggest, strongest-looking girl she had ever seen. She was tall and muscular, managing to look intimidating even in a ruffled tutu and striped stockings. Her plain features twisted into a fearsome scowl, and Jackie could have sworn the girl was even growling as she crushed her snowman plushie between her beefy fists.

A snowball hit her right in the face, and the children let out a collective gasp.

"Did you throw that?!"

"I didn't!"

"Then who..."

Jackie stuck her hands in her hoodie pocket as she casually balanced cross-legged on her staff. She smirked as she saw her magic doing its work. "You're welcome," she said, just as Cupcake began to laugh. To the group's surprise, Cupcake fit right in immediately, chasing them around with a wide grin on her face.

As they rounded over the hill, Jackie swooped down and ran her staff against the ground, forming a slick path of ice.

Jamie let out a startled yelp as he slipped on the trail of ice, landing on his stomach just after twisting his sled to break his fall. His friends called out his name urgently as the sled went skidding down the street, unable to know that Jackie jumped in front in the nick of time and was currently using her staff to fly alongside the boy and create a safe trail of ice for the sled to follow. Jamie himself was holding on for dear life, face pale and wide-eyed.

"Don't be scared, I gotcha!" Jackie called out over the roar of the wind and screeching tires of passing cars. Of course, Jamie didn't hear her, but after a moment he seemed to take notice in the fact that he was steered out of danger at the last second. Eventually he even began to enjoy the ride, laughing in spite of the danger he appeared to be in. His friends had taken off running after him, cheering him on.

A truck veered towards them and Jamie hollered in surprise, but Jackie expertly swerved the path of ice. The truck skidded and tipped open, sending some furniture flying into the street before the vehicle braked to a sharp stop.

"Aaagh!" Jamie shrieked.

"Come on, keep up!" Jackie laughed, spreading the ice over the sidewalk to get Jamie out of the street. The two dodged restaurant signs, pedestrians walking their dogs, and the occasional bicycle until it came time to cross the street once more. Jamie was wearing a wide grin now, his face the picture of childlike innocence, and Jackie knew she had to end this whole shebang effectively. The entrance to the town park was coming up, marked by a statue of John Burgess, the town founder.

There was a mount of snow built up around the marble base of the statue, and Jackie smirked. Perfect. Placing herself a few feet in front of Jamie's sled, she raised the ice into something like a ski jump. Jamie gasped when he saw it, but was simply going too fast and didn't have the strength to stop the sled himself. He flew off the jump at top speed, too stunned to even yell.

The next few minutes seemed to pass in slow motion. Jamie arched through the air, feet dangling off the end of his sled. His friends caught up with the runaway toboggan and stood still, gaping. Jackie touched down on the statue and leaned against it with her arms crossed, caught mid-laugh.

The moment ended, and Jamie suddenly found himself lying face-down in a snow bank.

"Jamie, you okay?" the girl named Paige called out worriedly. After a moment of tense silence, the boy jumped to his feet and spun around, looking slightly disoriented.

"Pretty epic," Jackie smiled, quietly applauding. "Good work, kiddo."

"Did you guys see what I just _did?" _he gasped breathlessly. "That was freakin' amazing! I just went _flying_, and it was like—" He was cut off by a furniture item from the aforementioned skidding on the ice towards him, colliding with the boy and sending him hurtling back towards the ground.

Jackie grimaced. "Yikes."

"_Jamie!"_

A small hand emerged from behind the renegade sofa, a small object clenched in between trembling fingers. Jamie's brown head popped up a second later. "It's a tooth! I lost a tooth!" Sure enough, there was a noticeable gap in his grin that had not been there a moment earlier.

"Awesome, man!" Claude congratulated. "That means Tooth Fairy money!"

"You better put it under your pillow before you lose it!"

"Wait, hold on—"Jackie frowned, hopping off the statue and trailing alongside the group of kids as they began to walk away. "Hold on, the Tooth Fairy didn't just give you the greatest sled ride ever, did she? Come on, that was me!" She stepped in front of Jamie, "What do I have to do to get noticed—"

The winter spirit stopped speaking abruptly as the boy passed right through her, leaving her with the unpleasant tingling sensation of being intangible and an even worse mood than before.

**xXx**

The Sandman felt like a dirty spy.

Which, in hindsight, he probably was. How else could he phrase what he was doing, aside from spying on (and, for all intents and purposes, stalking) Jacqueline Frost? Sandy didn't know much about Jackie, but she probably wouldn't take kindly to being followed and eventually manhandled by yetis. Sandy had been opposed to the plan, preferring to discuss a more peaceful method of getting the winter spirit to join the Guardians, but he couldn't fit a word in. One could only communicate so much with shape-shifting sand.

He and Bunnymund both watched from separate viewpoints as Jackie went about her day. They'd tracked her from Jyvaskyla, Finland to Moscow, Russia, and then followed her on the nonstop flight across the Atlantic to North America. If one thing could be said about Jackie, she was very fast. Catching her would definitely be tricky.

Hence the stalking and waiting for the right moment to jump the immortal girl. The whole thing left a bitter taste in Sandman's mouth, but he had to deal with it as he didn't have any say in the matter. He just had to do his part.

Did being the senior Guardian count for nothing anymore?

They'd all unanimously agreed that it was probably not a good idea to just go blazing into Burgess guns akimbo, so to speak. Jackie would be sure to make a hasty escape. So that meant that they really had to step around eggshells while around her. Sandy sighed from where he sat and turned to watch the sun. It was going to go down in a few minutes, so he'd have to begin his rounds soon. He usually began in larger cities, like Beijing and New York, but since the Guardians needed to track down Jackie, he was starting in the mid-sized town of Burgess. From there he would finish up very quickly and hurry back to the Pole for the ceremony.

The sun was nearly completely down now. It was time to get started.

**A/N: **

**See? Didn't I pull through this time? Sorry it's so late, though. Gah, I can't write action. I can't even write a snowball fight. Lame. It's so lame. I'm sorry. I'm actually embarrassed at how lame it is.**

**Hmm, seems I really did kick off the genderbend craze, huh? I've been seeing a few more like this around lately :P**

**Kichi Hisaki: Haha, yeah, just a teensy bit of a space case. I had long hair when I was younger... I cut it off when I was eleven and kept trimming it since then and WHY DID I DO THAT because I'm seriously obsessing over it now. It needs to get longerrrr D: As for the Jack/Bunny relationship. I've always seen them as those two siblings/friends who are constantly at each other's throats, but the second someone else takes a swipe at one of them, all bets are off. I don't see any romance in there at all. Just total bromance. You can have a bromance without romance. Ahh, yeah, I really don't like it when adaptations quote the source material exactly. It doesn't make for a very interesting read.**

**CelticGirl7: I imagine that he namedropped her as Jack once and everyone assumed she was a boy and the word spread like wildfire, even to the Muggles. And then he didn't even try to correct himself until blizzards hit every corner of America. **

**AvisQuest9513: I looove that scene. I'm totally looking forward to it (and hey, wouldn't Jack just make the best dad ever? If he had been able to, that is). Yeah, I don't imagine tomboys were received with a lot of warmth by the colonial communities. Damn those gender roles. But mark my words; Jackie's skirt is relevant. There's a reason she's not wearing pants. The skirt is a plot point.**

**Witchsoul531: Anything on his immediate person is probably as invisible as he is. Note how nobody can see his staff. He clearly was not holding it when he died; he just dropped it and picked it up afterwards. Though it is *~magical~* sooo... As for where he got the hoodie, the answer to that lies in chapter 20 of Invisibility by Twisted Skys. **

**DoctorWhovian11: She's wearing her very relevant skirt. *sigh* Alright, here's a bit of foreshadowing: **_**Have you ever tried to swim in a long skirt? **_

**ChibiLover123: Whew, thanks for that, because I think I failed.**

**Surrender Moors: I want to be as good as Rays of Color with this story. Hahaha, PRUSSIA! Maybe they do seem similar, in terms of appearance. I think fem!Jack is a lot more insecure, as opposed to Prussia who literally has no flaws. Not even kidding. I fully believe that**

**Thanks to BlizzardBorn, Epic Hero Laugh, jenny ice, Talia Iyami, The White Grim, MintLeafeon, Twisted Skys, Bandia, Angel of Love and Fluffy Stuff, Aki-chan26-AgnosticAngel, Sarrina-Wolf-Chick, morethanjustausername, hisokauzumaki, and Greece's kitty.**

**Thank you all for reading, please review!**


	6. Kidnapping

Despite the sour feeling left behind by being walked through yet again, Jackie couldn't resist watching the group of kids for the rest of the day. She'd seen all of them around Burgess before of course (it had been her home base for three hundred years after all; you get to know the locals at least on a physical level after a while) but she'd never interacted with them as much as she had that day. This was because it usually hurt too much to never be able to fully participate in children's' activities.

But there was something about this group that attracted the immortal teen to them. Jackie couldn't help but want to be around them, ignorance notwithstanding. They exuded so much energy and friendliness it was contagious, and soon enough Jackie found herself smiling and laughing again as she watched the kids get called in for hot chocolate by Jamie's mother. Cupcake turned to leave, but at the last moment Jamie invited her in as well. Well, at least something good came out of the day, Jackie reckoned. She liked watching the kids make friends with each other, even with the most unlikely of their peers, such as Cupcake. The large girl was clearly the one who intimidated the rest, and likely didn't have any friends up till now, so it make Jackie feel a small twinge of satisfaction inside when she watched her get accepted by the others.

The kids dispersed and went home as the sun began to go down, the day's activities coming to a close. For reasons she couldn't explain, Jackie stuck around near Jamie's house, watching him and Sophie eat dinner with their parents then head upstairs to get ready for bed. Earlier, Jamie had quickly scribbled out a drawing of his adventure on the "demon-possessed sled" (as he had called it with an upbeat smile; Jackie wasn't sure whether to be amused or offended) and it now hung proudly on his wall next to his bed.

"—and then, Sophie I swear, I went flying over a jump and landed by the statue in the park, and then a couch came flying out of nowhere and I lost my tooth!" Jamie excitedly showed his sister the gap in his grin. Her green eyes widened and she fingered her own front teeth in wonderment. "The Tooth Fairy's going to come tonight, you know! you wanna stay in here and help me surprise her?"

The little girl laughed and clapped, cheering, but their mother cut in, "Oh no. You two need to go to bed, alright? No staying up trying to see her, Jamie. If you do that, she won't come."

Her son frowned. "She will too. she wouldn't ditch just 'cause I'm awake, Mom."

Mrs. Bennett laughed and scooped Sophie off her brother's bed, gently tossing the toddler in the air and catching her soundly. "Alright, alright. Whatever you say. Tooth under your pillow?"

"Yep! I put it there hours ago."

"Good." Jamie's mother kissed his forehead. "Good night, sleep tight. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom. 'Night, Soph." The light in the boy's room flicked off, leaving nothing but darkness.

Outside, leaning upside-down from the roof and peering through the window, Jackie watched the scene with a wistful smile. She sighed as frost began to creep over the glass panes and allowed the wind to turn her upright, lightly setting her down on the roof. Jackie brushed a few strands of flyaway hair into her hood and leaned on her staff, eying the silvery sheen of the moon.

"You know, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me what I'm doing wrong," she told it, voice coming out harsher and more broken than she intended. "I'd love it if people could see me. That's all I want, because _nobody_ ever sees me. _You're_ the one who put me here, the mighty Man in the Moon—" She laughed humorlessly here, "—so...just give me one word. One sign. That's all I need..."

Silence.

Jackie released a heavy breath. "Figures."

She stepped off the roof and glided over to a nearby power line, landing delicately on the wire. Ice crept from her toes down the line, and feeling a mixture of extreme boredom and depression, she walked down the wire and tapped her staff against the line parallel, effectively freezing both solid.

_Looks like this block's having a power outage tonight,_ she thought forlornly, _Whoops._

What could anyone expect, though?

Freezing was all she could do.

**xXx**

The Sandman was not expecting to just suddenly see Jackie out and about, but who else could that figure on the power lines be? No normal human could balance that well, nor would the wires be freezing under their feet. Yup, that was the Spirit of Winter for sure. He was high in the clouds and she was down below, but he could see her small figure clearly.

Sandy began his work, releasing out the long tendrils of dream sand over the town. The sand lit up the night sky with its warm golden glow, and Jackie turned. Sandy could see her face now, and was stunned—as he often was—at how youthful and innocent it was. She'd just been a child herself when she was turned immortal.

Her mournful look vanished when she saw the dream sand, and to Sandy's mild surprise he could hear her say softly, "Right on schedule, Mr. Sandman." Her lips quirked up in a small smile and she raised a hand above her head, running her fingers through the sand, laughing as a dream of a dolphin materialized and swam circles in the air around her. Jackie's hood fell and her long white hair spilled out, and Sandy smiled as well when he saw how content she looked. A pang of pity twinged in his chest as he realized that she probably didn't look that way too often, if her expression a moment ago was anything to go by.

The pity was replaced by guilt when he remembered exactly why he (and Bunnymund) was there. Sandy knew he would definitely not be on good terms with the immortal teen by the time the night got out.

He rose upwards, extending the tendrils of sand further over the town. The light stretched into the windows of every child in Burgess, forming good dreams and sweet slumber for each of them.

Almost.

In an apartment block a ways away, the shadows stirred in the bedroom of one little girl and a tall, willowy figure stepped out of the darkness.

**xXx**

Pitch Black's grey lips curled over his sharp teeth as he leaned over the sleeping form of Cupcake, watching her smile in her sleep as the dream sand took the form of a unicorn dancing over her head. He laughed coldly, "Ah, how sweet. Look how adorable they are, child and dream. So many hopes, delights...there's only one thing missing." His brows furrowed, but Pitch's chilling smile remained on his face. "A small touch of fear."

He poked a long, bony finger into the flanks of Cupcake's unicorn, leaving a spot of black which quickly spread throughout the rest of its shimmering body. The form twisted and contorted, and Cupcake grimaced in her sleep as the unicorn suddenly took on a different shape: a sharp, angular horse of midnight-black sand with glowing yellow eyes.

Pitch chuckled softly, running a loving hand over the spine of the horse. "There we go, that's what it needed. How lovely you are, you pretty little _nightmare."_ He looked deep into the hellish eyes of the horse. "Now, your job is to go tell the others that the waiting is over. Go."

The horse snorted and pawed at the air before taking off through the window, leaving a trail of dark, glimmering dust behind. Satisfied, Pitch melted into the shadows and slunk from Cupcake's room back onto the street, where the light of the full moon shown down with a sense of disapproval.

The Nightmare King spread his arms affably. "Don't you go telling me you didn't expect this," he told the moon. "You knew it would happen eventually. I'm ready to take my place in this world." Pitch's alien features twisted into a nightmarish grin. "Are your Guardians ready to defend it?"

**xXx**

Jackie couldn't help but feel a little disappointed as the light from the Sandman's dream sand faded into the night. It was a small comfort to her each night, being able to see and interact with it, even though she rarely slept herself. Every once in a while she'd snatch a pinch of it and pass out on a rooftop or something, but only if she was in the mood. It was too late tonight, anyway. The sand was gone.

She absently tossed her staff from one hand to the other, preparing to fly off to her pond for the night. That was the place Jackie truly considered her home, and where she spent the evening hours whenever she was in Burgess. That was where she had woken up that one night so long ago, after all, so it made sense for her to have a sort of kinship to the place. Before she got a chance to take off, however, something large and dark dashed by at top speed.

"Wha—" Jackie stumbled back in surprise, thrown off guard. She looked off in the direction the thing had gone, and saw nothing. "What was that...?"

Without warning, it rushed by again and took off running down the street. Far too curious at this point, Jackie jumped the wind and followed it. It led her down several blocks, knocking over trash cans and setting off car alarms as it went. Jackie frowned; it seemed to intentionally be trying to lead her somewhere, keeping just ahead of her to be visible but never slowing down enough to allow her to keep up.

The winter spirit followed the thing to a vacant parking lot and then vanished entirely. Jackie touched down on the damp asphalt, keeping her staff held in its battle position as she looked around warily. She'd been randomly attacked by semi-malicious spirits before, so was wisely on her guard. After all, who knew what could happen? And if it wasn't a lesser spirit, it was a greater one, and those were even more trouble. Jackie had long since figured out to steer clear of—

"G'day, mate."

**xXx**

Bunnymund resisted the urge to flinch as Jackie gasped sharply and spun around, tightening her grip on her staff. He knew to watch out for that thing, and was fully aware that Jackie could be very dangerous when she want to be. Surprising her the way he did had probably not been a good idea, but...he just couldn't help it. What could he say? Bunnymund loved the feeling of having pulled one over on Jacqueline Frost.

He pulled out one of his boomerangs and casually examined it in the dim light of the street lamp, knowing he was casting a pretty impressive shadow down near Jackie's feet. Oh yeah, he couldn't have picked a better setting for this. Poor girl wouldn't even know what hit her.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" the Pooka continued, stepping into the light. "1968, if I remember correctly. Easter Sunday."

Jackie's stance immediately relaxed, something which confused Bunnymund slightly. He knew for a fact that he and her were both very wary of each other. The winter spirit's expression fell into a casual grin, the very picture of childlike innocence painted on her pale face.

_Look at that smile._ Bunnymund didn't trust it for an instant. Her eyes glinted with a sort of mischief, and the rabbit knew she was just waiting for an opportunity to snark at him, probably about the whole gender issue.

Leaning on her staff, Jackie greeted cheerily. "It's you! The Easter Bunny's come to pay a visit. This isn't about that blizzard is it? I thought we moved past that."

His ears twitched and he forced himself to remain calm. She thought he'd moved past that? Six feet of snow in the entire northern United States, stretching from Washington state to Maine and even up into Canada! It was a disaster, his worst Easter ever, and—

_Breathe...breathe..._

Feigning indifference, Bunnymund looked Jackie straight in her ice-blue eyes. "You can keep kidding yourself about that," he said, "but the blizzard isn't what I'm here about."

She made a small noise of confusion, eyebrows furrowing, but didn't get a chance to reply before Bunnymund called out, "Have at it, gents."

Jackie suddenly found her staff knocked out of her hands and her body lifted clear off the ground by at least three feet. The two yetis who had been assigned to help Bunnymund with this little exertion had snuck up behind her expertly and seized her by the hoodie.

Jackie hollered in shock and twisted in their hands, to no avail. She was too small, the yetis too large, and she was borderline powerless without her staff acting as her conduit. The childlike façade from before had vanished, and now there was nothing but a very angry winter spirit who very much did not like the situation she was now in.

"What the he—" She grunted in frustration, "Knock it off, put me down!"

Bunnymund couldn't help but laugh when she turned her furious glare on him, shouting at him to make them let go. The second yeti, the one who wasn't holding her, pulled out North's magic toy sack and opened it widely, allowing the first to shove the thrashing girl inside. Her agitated yells were muffled by the heavy cloth being drawn shut, which cut off some mild profanity and threats of violence.

One yeti threw a snow globe at the ground and opened up a portal to Santoff Clausen. After scooping up Jackie's discarded staff, he and his compatriot stepped forward and indicated for Bunnymund to go through.

"No thanks," the Pooka scoffed, tapping his foot against the ground to form a tunnel. "I'll head there on my own and watch the little blighter hit the ground. Make sure Sandy knows I'll meet him back there in a few."

Without waiting for a reply, Bunnymund jumped down the hole, and the last glimpse of Burgess he received was that of Jackie's sack being tossed through the portal, staff and yetis following close behind.

**A/N:**

**This chapter...was a lot of fun. I was excited for it, and apparently you guys were too! I hope everyone liked it!**

**Okies, reply time. I didn't get a whole ton of reviews yesterday, but meh, I suppose that's what I get for the craptastic weakness that was the last chapter.**

**ChibiLover123: Ain't that the truth. I never cut myself a break. Thank you!**

**AbigailPaine: Thanks for saying that! I actually got criticized for my spelling and grammar earlier today, which make no sense because I am nothing if not eloquent. **

**Surrender Moors: Nooo. Rays of Color is much better than I am, haha. I'm so sad because As the Skies Open ended today... Oh god, just imagine if she turned up and saw us having a conversation about how awesome she is. Also, I gotta say, I was not expecting to run into another Hetalia fan here aside from Epic Hero Laugh and Greece's kitty. **

**Kichi Hisaki: The little slip of paper you get in your McDonald's Happy Meal when you get a Rise of the Guardians toy says Jack is eighteen (I know this because I made my mom buy me a Happy Meal last night because I wanted a Jack toy. I am very satisfied with it because I am a child, even if I only got a tiny carton of like twelve fries and four chicken nuggets for dinner). However, the RotG app says he's been seventeen for 300 years. Personally, I'm going with seventeen, but that's just me. It's up to interpretation, I guess. Also, look up the Bromance song by nigahiga on YouTube. It explains everything :P**

**AvisQuest9513: It should also be noted that they both saved their little sisters from drowning in an icy pond while skating. Yes, there are definite parallels. And that would be adorable! Thanks for the idea! Yeah, Sandy is easily the coolest character in the movie. He needs more respect.**

**Thank you to Gage39, MintLeafeon, Epic Hero Laugh, BlizzardBorn, hisokauzumaki, CelticGirl7, Dark-Angel-Princess 01, Sarrina-Wolf-Chick, Greece's kitty, and Aki-chan26-AgnosticAngel!**


	7. Boundaries

Pitch stared at the now-defenseless Tooth Palace in anticipation. With its leader gone, the fairies inside had nobody to defend them should a fight break out. Which it would. He grinned wickedly and patted the head of the Fearling beside him, glancing back at the army of the creatures he had amassed. The Tooth Fairy would be out of the picture soon; he was taking out the smallest threats as soon as possible.

The fairies themselves proved that the smallest threats were often the most irritating. That was why the Nightmare King was taking them out now. The other Guardians would be taken care of soon enough.

He smirked at the Fearling beside him. "Go."

**xXx**

What a wonderful way to become reacquainted with claustrophobia.

Jackie was familiar with claustrophobia already, of course—being an outdoorsy spirit had both its perks and drawbacks—but she'd long since learned to run far away from anything that could put her in a situation with limited space. Jackie would have run away, flown in fact, if she had her staff.

By the moon, she was going to kill that rabbit.

Jackie thrashed in the sack, gasping for air and feeling more desperate and panicked with every passing moment. Whatever sort of portal she was flying through was far too long and uncomfortably hot, neither of which made for a particularly pleasant journey through time and space. She _really_ did not do well with enclosed spaces. As though pushed forcefully from, the sack and girl flew forward at a neckbreaking speed and the portal suddenly ended as Jackie colliding with a very hard and solid surface. She lay still for a moment, taking deep, steadying breaths and trying to get her body's shaking under control.

She could hear muffled voices coming from outside the sack, and a moment later felt the drawstring being loosened. The lip of the bag was pulled upward and she could see outside for the first time, finding herself staring into the faces of two confused...elves?

"There she is!" someone with a booming Russian accent, exclaimed, pushing the elves out of the way. She looked upwards and right into the warm blue eyes of...

North. Nicholas St. North. Santa Clause.

"Oh, please be kidding me," she whispered. This was not looking good for her.

Jackie didn't have a chance to react any further before she was pulled forcefully upwards by the shoulders, high enough for her feet to dangle over the floor.

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed to the two yetis she recognized as being the ones who kidnapped her before, "Put me down!"

To her surprise, they obliged, and Jackie managed to at least land gracefully on her feet. She straightened her skirt and turned to look around at her surroundings. It was an open area inside, brightly colored, and well-lit. And standing in the middle of the room...

The Guardians. Large, intimidating North, small and oddly cute Sandman, feathery and hyperactive Toothiana (or just Tooth) and the aggravating-as-all-get-out Bunnymund. She frowned at that last one, resisting the urge to go up and punch him in the gut. She would, if she wasn't completely defenseless at the moment. Speaking of, where was her staff?

"Crap," Jackie said aloud, searching around for her staff. She spotted it lying on the floor next to her staff and, with a rush of relief, scooped it up again. Sense of security returned, the winter spirit turned back to the Guardians to find out what was going on.

"The yetis, they did not give you too much trouble?" North asked affably.

Jackie gave him an are-you-serious look. "Oh yeah," she replied with as much sarcasm as possible, glaring at each of them in turn. "Yeah, being kidnapped and shoved through some portal is a brilliant way to end what was otherwise an uneventful day, thank you."

"You're welcome. It was my idea," the large man chuckled.

Jackie ran her hands through her hair. "You know, I'm curious. Is there any particular reason I'm here? Does anyone care to explain that to me?"

Sandman raised his hand and attempted to form a complicated pattern of images with his dream sand, all of which crumbled into dust. Jackie held up a hand to stop him. "It's a good attempt Mr. Sandman, but...yeah, you're not really helping me."

"Allow me to introduce everyone," North said, trying to start over. "You know Bunny..."

Leaning against the wall, Bunnymund examined his boomerangs and sent her a narrow-eyed grimace. Jackie grinned despite herself. "Yes, I know Bunny."

Tooth zoomed up to her, looking excited. "Hi Jackie! I'm Tooth, the Tooth Fairy, but you already knew that. I've heard a lot about you! And your teeth. Is it true what my fairies have said?"

Jackie blinked. "Uh..."

"Let me see!"

The winter spirit didn't have time to react before she found her mouth forced open, Tooth's slim fingers poking around inside. "It's true! They're so white and shiny, just snow!"

Jackie escaped by ducking down and caught her breath. "Okay, seriously!" she demanded, "Tell me why I'm here!" An elf scampered up and offered up a plate of cookies. Jackie tapped her staff against his chest and froze the creature solid. Pacing across the floor, she took a few deep breaths to steady herself and began thinking out loud. "So what did I do this time? I'd only ever be here of all places if I did something so big it made all of you gather up here. What is it? I get on the naughty list or something?"

North let out a hoot of laugher. "The naughty list? You have to ask? You hold the top record!" He crossed his arms. "But that is not why you're here. In fact, we're letting you off the hook. No harm done."

"Oh really?" Jackie spun on her heel to face them, staff balanced on her shoulders. "And why is that?"

"I'll tell you why that is!" North exuberantly raised his arms over his head. "It is because you are now a Guardian!"

As though on cue, elves came swarming in, bearing instruments, confetti, and a very large book that made Jackie's head hurt just to look at it. she stumbled back, tripping over a few, and backed against the wall. The elves began playing, trumpet music filling the room, and a few more began sprinkling confetti everywhere. A yeti took the book and handed it to North, who cracked it open.

_Oh no_, Jackie thought. _I'm not having this_. She raised her staff and slammed it into the floor, spreading a thin coating of ice and sending a frigid wind whipping through the room. Candles extinguished and the book flew upwards into North's face.

Everyone stared at her in wide-eyed shock, and Jackie couldn't care less.

"What are you talking about?" she asked nobody in particular. "I don't want to be a Guardian."

There was a beat of shocked silence, then North burst into laughter. His large belly shook and the others looked uncomfortable, like they didn't know whether to join in or not. Bunnymund just rolled his eyes while Tooth and Sandy donned uncomfortable smiles.

The Russian stopped abruptly and said in a low but humored voice, "Of course you want to be a Guardian. Why wouldn't you? Start the music!"

The elves started up again, but didn't get far before Jackie shouted over the noise, _"Knock it off!"_ The room fell silent once more and all eyes focused on the winter spirit, with the exception of one trumpet-playing elf who slammed his instrument down and walked away angrily.

Now that she had everyone's attention, she could begin to make her point. "For starters, shoving someone in a bag and sending them flying across the world without their consent is not the best way to win support for your cause, whatever that may be."

Tooth nudged Bunnymund and muttered, "I told you so."

"Secondly," Jackie continued, beginning to pace across the mosaicked floor. "You don't want me. I know that for a fact. You think I don't work hard for anything, that all I care about starting snowball fights and freezing sledding hills, and you know what?" She spun around and faced them with a smile. "That's true. You guys are all work and never do anything fun and I actually have a problem with that. Now, if I hold record on the naughty list, there has to be a very good reason why you want someone like _me_ joining your grand ranks. So what is it?"

The Guardians had to give the girl credit, she was far more astute than they would have imagined. North answered, "It's because Pitch is out there threatening the children of the world, and we need the help we can get."

"Pitch?" Her dark eyebrows disappeared into her hair. "The Boogeyman?"

"Yes, and he's getting stronger every moment."

Jackie shrugged. "Sounds to me like you really need someone more motivated and qualified, then. Instead of wasting your time bothering me in my off season, why don't you go out and pick someone more suited to your needs?"

North chuckled at that. "We do not pick the Guardians. We were chosen, by the Man in Moon, just like you were last night."

He was surprised at the reaction from the girl. Jackie stumbled back, eyes wide and face turning even paler than it had been before.

"I...what?" she whispered.

"Last night," Tooth repeated, "He chose you to be a Guardian."

"The Man in the Moon talks to you?" Jackie breathed with a sense of betrayal, and if Tooth didn't know better she would have thought the winter spirit was going to cry. Nothing of the sort happened, and she just continued, "Why...wouldn't he tell me about this himself?"

"Do you understand now?" North asked, pointing a beefy finger at her. "Man in Moon chose you, so you are a Guardian. We did not pick. He believes you can help, so you can."

Jackie laughed, but it was dry and humorless. "I see how it is. Three hundred years of giving me the cold shoulder and this is what he comes up with? Spending an eternity like...like you guys, holed up in your safe little hideouts thinking of ways to bribe kids?" She laughed again. "No thanks! And really, it does prove my point from earlier."

"What do you mean?" Tooth frowned. Things had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

Jackie spread her arms with a cold smile, "You don't want me. You'd be perfectly happy just leaving me alone, completely ignoring me. Just like always. In fact, if you didn't need me explicitly, if the Man in the Moon didn't choose me, that's what you would be doing right now. When was the last time any of you paid me the slightest bit of attention? Or the last time we even had a conversation that lasted half this long?" She paused, waiting, but none of them had an answer. They knew she was right.

"I thought so," she said with a note of finality, turning her back on the four stunned Guardians. "You're only paying attention to me because you have to. Suppose I did help, let's think about that. We fight Pitch, we defeat Pitch, and what then? I go back to freezing water pipes alone and you all continue on with your babysitting of the world and having holiday parties with every other spirit. Nothing will have changed."

"Except that the world will be safe," Bunnymund cut in, finally fed up. He turned to his compatriots, "You know, I think we should take her point and leave it at that. She doesn't want to join us, fine by me. I think we just got out of a tight bind, actually. I mean, what does this joker—" he indicated to Jackie—"know about making kids happy?"

Jackie seemed to find this funny. She snickered and called back, "Do you understand the concept of a snow day?" She turned back to the Pooka, "I mean, it's nothing like leaving eggs in the grass for them to hunt up, but guess what? Kids actually like what I do."

"None of them believe in you though, do they? You're completely invisible, mate. Like you don't even exist and to them, you don't."

That was a very low blow, and everyone in the room felt it. Tooth snapped, "Bunny, that's enough! Stop—"

"Whoa, hold on," Jackie interrupted. "It's no big deal. The Easter Kangaroo's right."

"Wha—I'm, I..." Bunnymund spluttered, "I am no kangaroo." He stepped closer and leaned down to look the girl in the eyes. She glared back with equal fierceness.

"Oh really?" she replied, smirking, but Bunny wasn't fooled. He knew his words had affected her in some way, and prepared himself for the inevitable backlash. "I'm surprised, what with the Aussie accent and idioms, and you really look like one. So tell me..." Her blue eyes glinted with dislike, "What are you, exactly?"

"A bunny," he growled, "I'm the Easter Bunny. People actually believe in _me."_

The smug smirk dropped off her face and her eyes widened a fraction of an inch. Bunnymund noticed her swallow and struggle to come up with a retort, and was honestly surprised when she didn't say anything. For a moment, he wondered if he had taken his mockery of Jackie too far. He did have a habit of doing that, whether he liked to admit it or not, but never before had he intentionally used the subject of her believers—or lack thereof—against her. The results were not as satisfying as he expected. The results were only ever satisfying when he got an amusing reaction, or at least some witty, irritating banter in return. Jackie's silence and the fact that she was obviously upset only served to make Bunnymund feel guilty. He'd never seen her like that.

Behind them, the Sandman fidgeted uncomfortably. There was a very thick tension in the room, and the temperature inside seemed to have dropped twenty degrees. He was relieved Jackie wasn't mad at him, but that didn't mean this was any better. His breath huffed out and he nudged North's leg, urging him to break the standoff up.

North coughed, breaking the heavy silence. "Jackie, walk with me."

After a moment's hesitation, she nodded. North waved off the other Guardians when they tried to follow and led the girl out to the globe room. "Look at this," he said, gesturing grandly to the massive, glowing sphere. "Each of those lights is a child. Our job is to protect them, so none of those lights go out by unnatural causes."

"That's cool," she mumbled, keeping her staff in the crook of her elbow and hands stuffed in the pocket of her hoodie. "Doesn't mean I'm suited for it."

"Follow me," North said, ignoring the last comment. The two walked to the lift, stepping inside. North pulled the lever and the lift descended down to the lower floors, where his personal workshop was located.

"It's not like I'm trying to be difficult," Jackie spoke up as they stepped off, struggling to be heard over the growing noise and chaos of the workshop. "I'm just not cut out for the Guardian stuff, you know?"

Not looking back, North replied, "Manny says you are cut out for it, and so you are."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm more in tune with my own strengths and weaknesses than he is."

She fell silent after that, and North turned back to see if she was keeping up. he was surprised at what he saw. Jackie was gazing around the workshop, at the yetis and elves making and testing the toys, with a look congruent to those of a small child on Christmas morning. Her sulky attitude from before had all but vanished, leaving behind a girl who was too excited and amazed to know where to look first. North smiled at the rare picture of innocence and continued walking, which caught her attention.

"Slow down, will you?" she asked breathlessly, jogging to his side and twisting her head to look above them, "I've been trying to break in here for, like, a hundred and fifty years. I wanna get a good look at everything!"

North raised his eyebrows. What was that supposed to mean? "What do you mean, break in?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Don't freak out, I never got past your security yetis." She caught the eye of the very suspicious Head of Security, Phil, and waved. "Sup, Phil?"

The yeti said something in Yetish and gave Jackie an I-am-watching-you look. She laughed and sped up, while North frowned. If Jackie knew Phil well enough to be on a first-name basis, how many times had she tried to break into Santoff Clausen over the years? Why had he never heard of the attempts before now? Really, if so much as an icicle formed on the spires, Phil came to tell him about it. So why...?

He shook himself. That wasn't important right now.

North's thoughts were interrupted as he nearly tripped over a pair of elves who were doing...something. One was wrapped head to toe in Christmas lights, giving the other a thumbs up. with an excited grin, the second elf plugged the lights into the socket, effectively electrocuting his friend.

Jackie giggled at the sight. "So much for the elves making the toys then, huh?"

"If we don't let them believe they're doing something, they don't do anything," North explained. He put a hand on her shoulder in preparation to steer her away and told the elves, "That is very good work! Keep it up!"

They walked a little further until they reached the door to North's office, which he pulled open and gestured Jackie through. She stepped inside, looking around the room curiously. There was a lot of snow and ice blocks inside, which she liked, but also a large fireplace and a wide window that let in a great deal of light.

"Fruitcake?"

Jackie turned to see North offering a platter of cake, which looked as unappetizing as it possibly could. Jackie grimaced. She hadn't eaten in at least two hundred years and wasn't going to start with that. "Um, no thank you."

North didn't even blink as he tossed the cake away, letting it fall and splatter on the floor. He advanced forward, cracking his knuckles. "Good. Now we get down to business."

Jackie bit back a yelp of shock when the door suddenly slammed shut behind her, locks clicking into place. Turning back, she nearly had a heart attack when she saw North closing in, barely leaving inches of space between the two.

_Too close, too close, too close!_

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Excuse me?" she replied weakly.

North jabbed a finger into her chest with a terrifying glare. "You are Jacqueline Frost. But who _are_ you, as a person? What is your center?"

Jackie's only defense was to glare right back. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said. "What do you mean by center?"

"Manny chose you to be a Guardian, whether you like it or not. this means you have something special inside." North leaned back and Jackie breathed deeply in relief. She was not okay with disregard to her personal space. He eyed her critically. "Hm. Let's see."

He pulled something off a nearby bookshelf and tossed it in her direction. Jackie caught it easily and looked down to see a carved wooden doll of North himself. She raised her eyebrows.

"Uh, what's this for?"

"That is how you see me, yes?" he asked, "Very big, intimidating, but if you look harder..." He motioned for her to twist the doll open, which she did, and out popped a smaller version of the first doll but with a different face. It wore bright, happy smile.

"What do you see?"

"You're looking pretty jolly," Jackie deadpanned. When could she leave? She really didn't want to hang around the North Pole any longer. She wanted to go back to Russia. Or Antarctica, where there were no self-righteous Pookas to poke fun at her personal issues.

"Yes, jolly," North agreed. "Continue."

She pulled out another doll. North commented as they went through mysterious, fearless, caring, and Jackie wondered how many layers a wooden matryoshka could even have until they finally reached the last one. She tipped the final doll out into her palm.

"And at my center?"

"...there's a wooden baby," Jackie sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Look, that's great and all, but what's the point you're trying to make here?"

"Look harder," North instructed patiently. "What do you see?"

Suppressing a groan, Jackie examined the baby doll closely. The best she could do was point out the obvious. "You have big eyes."

"Yes!" North exclaimed, so loudly Jackie jumped violently. "Very big eyes! They are big because they are filled with wonder!" He widened his own for emphasis. "I have eyes so big because they are filled with wonder! Lights in the trees, magic in the joy of others, I see all of it!" He smiled brightly at Jackie, who really wasn't sure what to make of the whole speech. He leaned in again. "That is my center: wonder. What is yours?"

Jackie didn't say anything for several moments, and then released a heavy sigh. "I... I don't know."

At that moment, North didn't see her as a snarky, immature spirit of winter. She was old for sure (though much younger than most of the other immortals) but still had the heart and body of a child, and a mind that was confused and more than a little lonely. At that moment, her defenses were down and he could see who she really was. He placed the matryoshka doll in her hand, curling her fingers around it. Jackie looked up, confused, but rather than explain North just smiled reassuringly. After a moment, she understood and smiled back hesitantly.

Something whizzed past the large window just then, and the pounding of feet sounded in the hallway a split second later. Bunnymund and Sandy dashed into the room, panting.

"We've got a problem," Bunnymund said urgently. "Something's going down at Tooth's place."

**A/N:**

**I'm so sorry! It's been like a week since I last updated D: I've been trying not to take so long with my RotG stories and gaaah so much for that. It won't happen again, I swear! I may not update as often as I do, say, Snowflakes, but I won't take this long again.**

**I was really looking forward to this chapter, because the very first scene with all of the Guardians and Jack is one of my favorites. I wanted to add more length and tension, feeling like there should be some more because Bunnymund lacks certain boundaries and I don't believe Jack's issues with joining the Guardians stems just from his desire to keep sparking snowball fights. No, there's some angst in there, dammit. Jack is all the angst.**

**Alright, story time is over. No replies this time, but thanks to Baylee1100, LadyLombax, AraneaSerket, no one, AvisQuest9513, Q-A the Authoress, KatMeister, morethanjustausername, CelticGirl7, TenebrisSagittarius, Soaha, thunder angel13, MintLeafeon, Epic Hero Laugh, Aki-chan26-AgnosticAngel, Guest, ladygoddess8, Greece's kitty, Nana-Saki15, hisokauzumaki, ChibiLover123, AbigailPaine, Gage39, and Dark-Angel-Princess01 for reviewing!**


	8. Sleigh Ride

North sprang into action immediately. He followed Bunnymund and Sandy out the door, Jackie hesitantly trailing behind. They hurried down the long hallway and a few yetis swarmed around to ask their boss what was happening.

"Phil!" he barked, and the yeti stepped forward hurriedly. "Prepare the sleigh. We need to leave immediately."

The yeti nodded, barked at a few of his coworkers, and hurried off, the four spirits in pursuit.

"Let's hurry this up, mate," Bunnymund said as they stepped into a garage-like area. "We don't know for sure what's going on at the Tooth Palace; it could be something bad. We need to get there as fast as possible."

"I know that," North replied. He turned back to Sandy and Jackie, "Pick up the pace, you two. We all need to hurry."

"Wait, hold on, _we_?" Jackie jogged to catch up, tripping slightly as her legs tangled in her skirt. "Your speech a minute ago was great and all but, uh, didn't we establish earlier than nobody, not even myself, wants me to stick around with you guys?"

North didn't answer and she groaned dramatically. "I don't have any reason to follow you guys around. There's no way I'm climbing onto your rickety old sled and flying off to God-knows-where—"

The sleigh came into sight and Jackie choked on whatever she had been about to say, halting dead in her tracks. Rickety and old it definitely was not. The reindeer looked hardly tamed, bucking and wild, the whole thing was made of metal and Jackie was pretty sure she saw rocket propellers attached to the sides. It was certainly not the kid-friendly ride the Christmas songs made it out to be. It was, for lack of a better term, rather badass.

North looked down at her expectantly.

Jackie coughed, "Oh. Well. Forget what I just said, then. Only this one time, though." Without further ado, she braced her staff against the floor and used it to propel herself into her seat. Sandy floated up and settled himself next to her.

North chuckled humorously. "Everyone loves the sleigh~"

Bunnymund shook his head. "What kind of teenage girl…?"

The Russian climbed into the sleigh himself, taking a seat at the front and grabbing the reigns as the yetis preparing the sleigh bustled around tending to the reindeer and adjusting the skis. He looked down at Bunnymund, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

The Pooka cleared his throat. "I think I'd rather travel belowground, mate. My tunnels might get me there faster, and I'm positive they're safer—"

He was cut off by North massive hand grabbing the scruff of his neck and pulling him roughly into the sleigh, dropping him unceremoniously at the bottom. Bunnymund straightened up indignantly and caught Jackie's amused look.

"What are you looking at?" he snapped.

She just shrugged. "Nothing in particular, I guess."

Bunnymund didn't get the chance to retort back before North snatched up the reigns of the sleigh. In the span of a split-second, they had gone from sitting still to thundering down a long tunnel of ice, the sleigh jerking and skidding and nearly tossing its passengers out. It was all Jackie, Bunnymund, and Sandy could do to keep a hold on the side.

Well, the Sandman wasn't really trying. He stuck his short arms up in the air as if he were on a very unstable rollercoaster ride.

Jackie didn't try very hard either, only one pale hand clutching the side to keep her steady. The other hand firmly gripped her staff to prevent it from being lost in the chaos. Her blue eyes widened in wonder as the sleigh whizzed through the tunneled glacier, whizzing through various areas of the domain and giving her brief but still good looks at all the wondrous areas she'd never gotten to explore properly in all her years of trying to break in. It was amazing. She glanced back at a high, scratching sound and suppressed a snort at the sight of Bunnymund digging his claws into the side to keep hold.

"The loops are coming!" North casually glanced back, "Bunny, please do not vomit on the upholstery."

Bunnymund visibly swallowed. "No promises!" Before squeezing his green eyes shut, one paw reached out, grabbed the back of Jackie's hoodie, and pulled her roughly back into a sitting position. The last thing they needed was a wayward winter spirit splattering on the ice. Jackie didn't argue, but the moment they were out of the disorienting, looping tunnel and up into the open air, looking down at an aerial view of Santoff Clausen, she was leaning over the side once more.

Bunnymund let out an audible sigh as soon as it appeared that there was no longer any danger off falling off the side and relaxed. Jackie raised her eyebrows and asked flatly, "You're really not good with this whole flying thing, are you?"

He scowled at her, though it seemed to be wasted on the girl as she was hanging nearly halfway out of the sleigh, soaking in the view. "Shut up. Not all of us can fly."

"You should get used to it," she replied with an unladylike snort. "Come here and check out the view, it's amazing!"

Bunnymund opened his mouth to tell her where she could stick the view in his opinion, but what actually came out was more of a strangled cry as Jackie's feet suddenly disappeared over the edge and she vanished from sight with a small yelp of surprise.

_Oh god, oh god. _She could fly-or whatever it was that crazy girl did with the wind-right? Everyone would kill him if he lost Jackie. Why did _he _have to babysit her?! Oh _god_, if Jackie got herself killed by falling off North's hellish sleigh, Bunnymund would revive her and kill her again!

"N-Nor..." he barely managed to choke out, trying to inform the Russian that they were down a Guardian, "Sh-she...!"

North didn't seem to hear him, so he grabbed the side of the sleigh with a groan and pulled himself up, hating the nausous feeling it gave him. He looked over the side, expecting to see neither hide nor hair of the winter spirit, and thus was utterly surprised to find her casually leaning off the side, looking extremely amused.

"I thought you didn't like me, but I guess you do care!" Jackie said with a broad grin, visibly fighting the urge to laugh.

Forcing himself not to pull her up by the hood and smack some sense into her, Bunnymund snapped, "Is everything a joke to you?!"

Jackie pulled herself back into the sleigh and reclined back next to the Sandman, looking infuriatingly nonchalant. "Funny things are."

Their conversation was cut off when North pulled a large snowglobe-type thing out of his pocket and whispered "Tooth Palace" into it, before throwing it out into the open air. A large portal erupted into existance in front of the sleigh and they flew through it. The scenery blurred and warped as they went through, then stabilized. They were in an area completely different from the one they had left; it looked like somewhere in Asia, and the Tooth Palace was now in view rather than North's workshop.

For a moment, it was a perfectly picturesque scene. But as they drew closer, dark specks appeared on the horizon, flying rapidly towards the sleigh and its inhabiting spirits.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Erm. Hello. **

**I hate this chapter. I really, really hate it. I'm so sorry it took me this long to update and when I did, I gave you **_**this. **_**Uuuuugh. I'll try to do better next time.**

_***crawls away to die***_


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